The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device in which a technique is employed for suppressing the generation of undesired electric fields that can be the cause of image retention, which tends to degrade the image quality of the display device.
In a liquid crystal display device, a liquid crystal layer formed of liquid crystal molecules is sandwiched between two sheets of insulating substrates, preferably made of glass, and, at the same time, at least a pair of electrodes for applying an electric field to the liquid crystal layer are provided to either one or both of the substrates. In an IPS (in-plane switching) type of liquid crystal display device, all of the above-mentioned electrodes for applying an electric field to the liquid crystal layer are formed on one substrate, and the pixels are turned on and off (that is, switching is effected) so as to selectively form an electric field having components that are parallel to the substrate surface with respect to the liquid crystal layer in selected pixels.